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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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A musical on the grand scale Kismet
Tinkers Farm Opera
*** KISMET might not be grand opera but in
the hands of Tinkers Farm it is certainly a production on a grand scale. A cast of 48, all in
sumptuous Arabian costumes, splendid elaborate sets, almost a new one
for each scene, and a 14 strong orchestra, which is twice, or more, the
numbers usually seen in the band of professional touring musicals, all
showed admirable ambition. Kismet has not long been available to amateurs
and was last seen professionally, and then only in London , in 2007,
with an English National Opera production with Michael Ball and Alfie
Boe. A production which singularly failed to impress the critics. Based on a 1911 play by Edward Knoblock and with
a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, and music and lyrics
by Grand Hotel’s Robert Wright and George Forrest - leaning heavily on
Russian composer Alexander Borodin - Kismet falls somewhere between
musical and light opera. It tells the tale of a wily poet who can talk
himself out of anything, except every time he talks himself out of one
set of troubles he only succeeds into talking himself into the next. The fates, Kismet of the title, intervene in the
opening scene when the poet, played with a likeable air by Julian
Bissell, claims to be a relative of Hajj, a beggar who has gone on a
pilgrimage, to allow him to sit on Hajj’s seat, the best begging seat in
Baghdad. As he was just using it as a seat he could have
just said sorry when challenged and moved – but that would have been too
simple - and made it a very short show - so from that moment on he is
Hajj and Kismet has a whole set of misadventures lying in wait for him. For example the one eyed brigand Jawan, played
with some menace by John Clay, who is a big lad, thinks he is the real
Hajj and kidnaps him, demanding the return of his son, a past crime our
poet, not being the real Hajj, knows nothing about, so true to form he
digs himself out of that hole by digging a deeper one, claiming he is
some sort of wizard with magical powers.
After tricking Jawan out of a bag of gold, and
buying a few harem girls along the way to keep him going, Hajj then he
runs up against the Wazir of police, played by Rob Tulk, who has the
build and that bald-headed sinister look that would make him a splendid
executioner or torturer in something nice and violent, such as Robin
Hood. A pity his big moment singing his solo Was I
Wazir had to contend with what sounded like a building site in full
swing working away behind the frontcloth as the set was changed from the
garden of widow Yussef’s house to a roof-top pavilion at the Wazir’s
palace. Diane Geater as the Wazier’s wife of wives
Lalume, who seems to indulge herself with not so much a bit as a gigabit
on the side, went for more Barbara Windsor than sultry in the seduction
stakes, which worked well. She had a pleasant voice to boot but was too
often fighting a losing battle against the band, which is not the fault
of the musicians, but a little help from amplification would not have
gone amiss. Indeed sound was a problem on several occasions with even
dialogue struggling to be heard above the music which means sound needs
to be tweaked for the rest of the run. Then there was the Caliph, top honcho in old
Baghdad, who had potential wives coming out of his ears, but unless he
marries one or all of the three princesses of Ababu the Wazir’s loan
from their father, the King, will fall through and his creditors and the
police chief would be wazir today and gone tomorrow. The only problem is that the Caliph only wants
one wife, some mysterious woman he met in widow Yousef’s garden, so Hajj
is charged by the Wazir with preventing that marriage to save his own,
and ultimately the Wazir’s skin. The only problem is that the mystery woman is
Marsinha, daughter of our old friend Hajj. You can probably see the
problems arising from old Baghdad all the way to the Crescent already. Rose Rowley as Marsinah is the pick of the
singers with a fine, trained soprano voice, pitch perfect, plenty o
power when needed and soaring effortlessly up to some quite testing top
notes. Her solos and duets with Richard Lloyd-Owen as
the Caliph, sporting a decent tenor voice, were the musical highlights
with well known numbers such as Stranger in Paradise, Baubles,
Bangles and Beads, and And This is My Beloved. Good support to from John Leaman as Omar Khyyam.
As a largely forgotten and hardly popular musical
it was a bold choice from Tinkers Farm and the ambitious scale of their
production brought its own problems. Cost of theatre hire and other
expenses limits technical and full dress rehearsal times for cast, stage
crew and orchestra which makes opening nights a potential minefield. The
orchestra, under new musical director Edgars Cuzinskis had a shaky start
in the overture but settled down as the night went on, and it did go on
. . . and at three hours and ten minutes the show needs at least 20
minutes shaving from its running time. Thirteen scenes gave us an impressive seven full
sets and at least four frontcloths including a full stage scrim – a
gauze allowing us to see the stage behind with suitable lighting. But scene changes behind the frontcloths were too
noisy and too slow, particularly the final change to the Caliph’s
Palace. Such a large cast means that crowd scenes can be
slowed by everyone funnelling on or off stage and a few first night
wobbles meant that the show never managed to pick up pace to develop the
natural rhythm that all shows create fro themselves. But with such a big cast and a whole city of
scenery it is a credit to Stage Manager Steve Percy and director Janet
Phillips that the teething problems were not larger. As it was the show had the sort of problems that
will benefit enormously from a full run through with stage crew and cast
all the slicker with quicker changes and snappier delivery now they have
an opening night under their belts. To 10-04-14 Roger Clarke
06-05-14 |
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